The Cost of Love: Romans 15:1-7 (Sermon)

 

WELCOME 

Good morning. Today is a great day. It is Ann Steward’s baptism day. This is a first in the history of this building. I am pumped. We will conclude the service with an interview of Ann and a baptism. It is an outward sign of what God has done in her. He has washed her clean with Jesus’s blood. We all get to witness her faith. And we also can testify to our own in communion. We get to enjoy remembering Jesus’s last supper, with bread and a cup. The bread, he said, symbolized his body, and the cup, his blood. He gave up both for our forgiveness of sins. Not only that, we get to worship and be together. What a great day! 

HOOK 

We are working through the Bible verse by verse and chapter by chapter. I want to go to a passage in the Bible that talks about pleasing people. Specifically, pleasing people in church. Being a “People Pleaser” is a bad thing. We can be slaves to other people’s expectations. How many know how negative this can be? At the same time, pleasing people can be beautiful. For example, this was my family’s birthday week. My wife, with a Wonder Woman effort, sought to please two of our children. I am admonished by her attention to detail and care. With a similar passion, God wants us to try to please those in our church community even when it is difficult. We may be tempted to jump ship and give up on trying or even church. We can ignore God’s nudging to care for those in our circles. God can inspire and motivate us with radical affection for people in our spheres of influence who are weaker than we are and failing. Let’s read about it. 

TEXT 

Open the Bible to Romans, Chapter 15, beginning at verse 1. I am going to have C.B. read for us. Would you please stand with me in honor of God’s Word, if you are able? 

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. 

(Romans 15:1–7, ESV)

PRAYER 

Thank you. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we need you. I need you. Help us to understand and apply your Word. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen. You may be seated.

CONTEXT 

Paul wrote to the first Christian church in Rome from Corinth, Greece. He was on his way to Spain for a mission trip. He wanted to share the good news about Jesus with people who had yet to hear it. He planned to stop along the way to Spain as a follow-up to his letter. The main point he was making was to call the church to “Live together in the power of the gospel because it saves everyone who believes.” The first eleven chapters unpack the theology behind salvation. It is for all people, not just the religious or the heathen who put their hope in Jesus. We all need God’s mercy found in Jesus’s work. In Chapter 12, Paul changed his focus from God’s mercy to our response. Paul called people to respond in worship and to love people with genuine love. If we were to do a LIDAR or X-ray of Paul’s words, we would see he calls back to Moses and Jesus quite a bit, even here in an invitation to love God and people. 

POINT / STRUCTURE 

Chapter 15 drills down into what it looks like to love those in the church when it doesn’t come naturally. It is about bearing with, pleasing, seeking the good, and building up. It is simple to love those who like us and do what we ask them to. But when people’s weakness impacts us adversely, love becomes uncomfortable. How do we preserve and press on? 

Verses 1 through 7 answer like a stream watering a dry and thirsty crop. Here is the flow, 

V. 1 Commands 

V. 2 Explanation

V. 3–4 Reasons

Vs. 5–6 Prayer

V. 7 Summary and Goal

MAIN IDEA

The main idea of these seven verses seems to be that we should care for others in the church for God’s glory. Let me repeat: we should care for others in the church for God’s glory.

Point 1: Command

Look at verse 1:

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak” (Romans 15:1, ESV) 

STRENGTH

How did Paul measure strength? Pushups? A mile run? No. What was Paul talking about? Remember the context. Turn back to Romans Chapter 14, verse 1. 

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:1–5, ESV)

Some have strong consciences who could eat meat. Weak ones couldn’t. The Jewish people were taught that to eat meat, like bacon, was a sin. They could eat beef, chicken, and fish, but not unclean animals like pigs. Paul was making the point that although Christians could have a BLT sandwich, pork chops, and circle-cut ham, some felt guilty doing so and did so only because their consciences wouldn’t let them. I think such rules were deeply held from their earliest days, and to go against them would have been difficult. How does a person unthink something so ingrained? What is ingrained in you? 

PERSONAL 

I have a hard time not eating everything on my plate. I see it as stewardship. I can hear the phrase from some detached voice, “Think about those starving in Africa,” as I stare at those lima beans I detested growing up. Maybe you see leaving food on your plate as a form of discipline and a way to lose weight. Ingrained in me is that I dress up for work. I have a hard time wearing shorts during work hours. Maybe you dress down. You see it as a way to express to others that God accepts you as you are. For the Jewish people, ingrained in them was 

• That they could not eat with non-Jewish people. 

• They could not work from Friday night to Saturday night. 

• They were prohibited from eating certain foods, like bacon. 

In Acts, we read that God wiped away those rules, illustrating how he broke down the barrier for non-Jewish people to come near to him. At the same time, God tells us if we believe an action is sinful, it can be for us. Does that mean everything is relative? No. This principle is not radical relativism. It is a law of conscience. Paul was also not saying that a strong person may never eat bacon, but rather encouraging self-denial in public settings where someone would be tempted to eat and, in doing so, violate their conscience. So Paul wrote,

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1, ESV). 

We don’t need to satisfy every appetite. It is okay to say no to ourselves for others’ benefit, even if their logic and theology are wrong. In fact, it can be good to deny ourselves. What does this look like? Paul explained verse 2: 

V. 1 Commands 

V. 2 Explanation

V. 3–4 Reasons

Vs. 5–6 Prayer

V. 7 Summary and Goal

READ ON. 

Keep reading: 

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:2, ESV).

Instead of living to satisfy our desires, we can seek to please those closest to us. Who are they? 

• A spouse? 

• Kids? 

• Parents?

• Siblings? 

• Classmates? 

• And Co-workers?

This passage relates directly to those “neighbors” in our local church. We are to seek to please them. How? To build them up. What does that mean? It is for their good.  

QUALIFICATIONS 

But what if the person in question wants something bad or harmful? Well, verse 2 tells us that it is for their good and builds them up. It is for their benefit. If they want something destructive, we don’t need to please them that way. We shouldn’t please them in that way. What does that look like practically?

BENEVOLENT 

Let me illustrate. I had a friend notice that a Christian was continually struggling. He was praying for this individual for weeks. God prompted him with an idea. He was not only sacrificing his time in prayer; he reached out to me to see if the benevolent team from church could provide a little financial assistance to this individual. The team talked about it and took action. How did this all start? It was simple, but sacrificial. A person in church who was strong in the faith took his free time to talk to the Lord and then talk to me on behalf of another, who was weaker. He gave up time to care for, build up, and seek the good of another. This brings us to the question of why. Why do we do this?  

V. 1 Commands 

V. 2 Explanation

V. 3–4 Reasons

Vs. 5–6 Prayer

V. 7 Summary and Goal

READ ON

We are so busy these days. I feel like I am a piece of taffy being pulled apart. How do we find the bandwidth to please others, seek their good, and build them up? What can help us do what God wants us to do? When we don’t want to? Paul, in the next verses, helps. Look at verse 3: 

“For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me’” (Romans 15:3, ESV).  

Paul quoted David in Psalm 69 in connection with Jesus. Jesus didn’t seek his own pleasure, but gave up his comfort to give us what we desperately needed. Jesus was insulted. His haters sought to trick him, trap him, and discredit him. When that didn’t work, they beat and killed him. He embraced the cup of suffering. He didn’t please himself or demand his rights or leave us to wallow in our sin. Jesus descended from Heaven to Earth for the sake of our salvation. Why? 

ROMANS 5

Backing up ten chapters, Paul already gave us an answer: 

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8, ESV)

Friends, as strong as we are, we were once weak. We all have a history of weakness. Yet Jesus loved us into his family of faith at the cost of his body and blood; can we not seek the good of others who are weaker and failing? Yes, we can. But how do we, when we don’t want to? Let us look to Jesus. Let us consider Jesus. Let us remember what he did for us.

HEBREWS 

The author of Hebrews wrote, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1–3, ESV)

We can endure because he endured. We can sacrifice because he sacrificed. We can relinquish our prerogatives because he gave up his privileges. 

JOHN 

The apostle John wrote this, 

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9–11, ESV)

Let’s love as Jesus loved. Let us be like Jesus. Let us bear with one another, please one another, and build each other up for their good. Loving at the cost to ourselves can be so challenging. Some days, I would rather throw pajamas on and veg than get up and serve others. I need help. Where do we go for motivation when it is lacking? We go to Jesus. But where do we find him? Paul went to the Bible. 

VERSE 4

Look at verse 4:

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, ESV). 

The Old Testament was written to teach. 

• It is not just history teaching information, although it does that. 

• It is not just songs teaching music, although it does that. 

• It is not just prayers teaching how to talk with God, although it does that. 

It is God’s inspired and preserved Word for us, instructing how to live. It helps us understand, endure, and obey. And through it we get hope to persevere when the journey of obedience goes uphill and against the wind. 

HOPE WE NEED

We need hope, don’t we? 

• We need hope amid the rise of AI. 

• We need hope when it comes to inflation. 

• We need hope when it comes to the possibility of a land war in Iran. 

• We need hope regarding the national debt.

• We need hope when it comes to the over sexualization of our nation.

• We need hope when it comes to the prevalence of substance abuse. 

We need hope. I need hope. You need hope. Don’t you? 

DANTE

Seven hundred years ago, in Italy, Dante Alighieri wrote an epic poem that captured the hearts of many, describing a fictional journey to God. Above the door to Hell, in the book titled Inferno: Canto 3, are the words, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” What a horrible reality. Maybe you have been depressed and feel hopeless. Hell is worse. We have hope here and now in God’s book. 

PRAYER 

Not only that, Paul prayed that God would give us hope in our frail dispositions. Hear his prayer. 

V. 1 Commands 

V. 2 Explanation

V. 3 Reason

V. 4 Reason for the Reason 

Vs. 5–6 Prayer

V. 7 Summary and Goal

Listen with me to verses 5 and 6. Picture Paul writing this with his scribe at his side. He is in Greece, thinking of his Roman friends: 

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5–6, ESV).

We need God’s help. We are born with crooked dispositions. We don’t need to teach a child to be selfish. Our birth defect needs to be remedied not just by instruction. Saint Augustine wrote in his autobiography in the 300s, “Grant what Thou dost command, and command what Thou wilt” (Confessions 10:29, Sheed’s translation). God, command what you want and help us to do what you command. 

God commands us to please other people at the expense of our pleasure at times; how? 

How do we press into a call of self-denial, looking to serve those who are weaker and failing in church? How are we going to do that this week? How do we keep on? Well, we can join Paul in asking God to command us in any way he wishes and help us to obey what he commands.

Friends, here is more good news for us who struggle to love the people in church. 

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15, ESV).

God will give you the desires of your heart if they are his desires (Psalm 34). He wants us to be a unified, harmonious, loving community of faith. If we join Paul in asking, not just for others but for ourselves, a prayer like this, God will give what we ask for. Will you pray like Paul? I picture one day going to heaven and seeing my life prayers go by like stars at warp speed, then zooming in to see how God answered them. Consider the accidents that may have been averted, the temptation avoided, the good service rendered. What if, by praying this way, we better learn to deny ourselves and take up our crosses, and love more genuinely those in church? The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins. I think of love like a makeup artist, helping mask our blemished selves. God can make the church beautiful through prayers like this.  

SUMMARY AND GOAL

Let’s wrap this up with our last point in verse 7. 

V. 1 Commands 

V. 2 Explanation

V. 3–4 Reasons

Vs. 5–6 Prayer

V. 7 Summary and Goal

Jump to verse 7:

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you” (Romans 15:7, ESV).  

God calls us to be a welcoming church. That sounds off to me. It is not. We are to welcome others as Jesus welcomed us. How did he welcome us? He didn’t excuse sins. Nor did he pretend they weren’t there. NO. What did he do? He died. He condemned sin in his death, suffering God’s anger we deserve. That is how much he welcomed us. Let that sink in. When we take communion later, let that sink in. He bled and died for you. He loved you to death. Can we bear with the sin of those around us? 

“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1–2, ESV).

(Jesus’s law was love.) We need to be charitable in a messy church. Let us love one another. 

WEAKER 

At a conference, I heard a teacher and writer, David Powlison, bring up this category of weakness. Weakness is not necessarily sin. Paul wrote about this category to the church in Thessalonica. 

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Let’s be a church that is patient and kind with the idle, fainthearted, and weak in church? Who is a weaker person in church? Whom might God have put in your church circle that needs you to bear with, to seek to please, and to build up? Listen to God. Write a name down. Pray for wisdom on what that would look like. Pray for motivation to do it. And then act. Why? This goes back to Chapter 12 verses 1 and 2. It goes back to our motivation. It goes back to worship. Look at the tail end of verse 7 as we conclude. What does it say? 

“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7, ESV).  

Glory means praise. Praise is not just about singing; it is about living. We can live in such a way that our lives are a living sacrifice of praise to God. When you make sacrifices to care for God’s people, there is a way that we continue the worship service from Sunday morning. Let’s orient all our lives to worship the Lord. 

PRAYER 

Let’s pray. 

*All Rights Reserved Use by Permission